Embiid's 1st dunk of season fires up rising Sixers

NEW YORK -- It took more than two months, but Joel Embiid had his first dunk of the 2025-26 NBA season, and it capped the Philadelphia 76ers' 130-119 victory over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

The win moved Philadelphia five games over .500 for the first time this season.

"It was whatever," Embiid, who finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, said with a smile. "It was an easy one. I wish it would have been one off the backboard. ... That's the next step."

With the game out of reach, Embiid's dunk came in transition with no one near him and was the final basket of the game. He and the Sixers had some fun with it, responding with a mock celebration between Embiid and his teammates.

Rookie VJ Edgecombe, who also scored 26 points, joked that Embiid "actually got up a little bit" on the dunk.

"I was so happy," said Tyrese Maxey, who led the 76ers (19-14) with 36 points in his latest scintillating performance of this season. "So now it's my fault because the play before, I dropped him off a pass thinking he wasn't going to dunk it. Now he's telling me to throw him a lot. So I'm going to throw him a lob, and we're going to see how that goes."

"You saw he wanted to get one," 76ers coach Nick Nurse said before adding with a laugh, "It was a pretty cheap way of getting it, I think. But at least we know he can still dunk, and he can check that off his list."

All of that was indicative of the playful mood inside the visiting locker room at MSG after the Sixers closed out a 10-day road trip with their third straight victory.

And while the Knicks (23-12) were playing on the second night of a back-to-back after losing at home to Atlanta on Friday night, chalking up Saturday's loss to tired legs would undersell Philadelphia's performance.

It also was a reminder of how explosive the Sixers can be at full strength -- which they could move a step closer to soon with the returns of Kelly Oubre Jr. (knee) and Trendon Watford (oblique) getting closer.

"I think the biggest difference is, we just feel better as a unit," Paul George said. "We trust in the process of this team. And I think just a year under your belt, you just naturally gain camaraderie and I think it's carrying over. I think it's safe to say everybody in this locker room, we're starting to enjoy the game. We're starting to enjoy being out on that floor, playing on both ends. And I think we're just gelling."

The next few weeks could prove pivotal for the Sixers, who play 11 of their next 15 games at home. In terms of health and continuity, the team is in a place it hasn't been in for years.

That especially goes for Embiid, who has begun to get into a rhythm on the court, scoring at least 20 points in eight consecutive games, and also seems to be getting back to his old self away from the court.

When asked how he felt about returning to Madison Square Garden for the first time since Game 5 of Philadelphia's first-round playoff loss to New York in 2024, Embiid said, "I love being here. This is my favorite place in the entire world, New York ... it's always good to be here and talk back to the fans. They went quiet today ... I guess that's what happens when you're losing the whole game.

"But it's always fun to go back-and-forth with them, and it's good. Sometimes it's good to be liked. Sometimes it's good to be hated."

For Embiid and the Sixers, what's more important than being liked or hated is being relevant again in the Eastern Conference after last year's impossibly bad season. Saturday's win moved them a half-game out of fourth place in the wide-open East.

"We got a long way to go," Nurse said. "I told you at the start of the season, we were in a big hole we had to dig out of, and we're still digging. There's a lot of still conditioning, rhythm, health can get a little bit better, and we just keep building on that."